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almost 20 months past and....(update)

....my daughter just does not sleep through the night without a meal. She wakes up every night at around the same time and starts crying or moaning and keeps going and does not go back to sleep ....I feel like I'm on the "autopilot" just get up give her the milk and change er and go back to sleep.....it only takes about 10 min to d it but it takes a long time for me to fall back to sleep....and then a long day taking care of 3 kids....

Yes I'm aware that she should be off the formula and bottle by now. We are slowly "graduating". And I tried NOT getting up.....but she'll just go fo hours moaning and that means rough night for both of us...

Any advice ?

Thank you ladies so much for all the advice. I really appreciate it. I thought a lot about the fact that maybe she is not getting enough food during the day ( the problem is that she's always nibbling and does not want to sit down and have a meal and always WANTS to nibble on something). She is not underweight btw (somewhere around 25% ) but not being on formula will not kill her either.

I will try to take a first step tonight - if she wakes up as usual I'll wait as long as I can (without loosing my mind and sleep) for her to go back to sleep and if that doesn't work I will offer her just plain water. Will keep you ladies posted on how that goes.

Ensure is a meal replacement that is made for people who are sick or unable to meet their nutritional needs with intake of meals and other fluids. It is not intended for a perfectly healthy toddler with a good appetite.

Oh wow! im glad Im not alone! If he is sleeping for the night by 11 that feels early to me! my mom said I was the same way until I was about 3 and she was the same as a baby/toddler too, and Im sure my SO was too cuz hes always been a late person too so I swear its in his genes! i hear my friends and cousins with kids around the same age complaining if they are up til 9:00 and I laugh!

Quoting xxshelbyxxx:

Gosh I though my DS went to bed late! And I'm not being an ass I'm being sincere! I've always figured I'm the only mother with a 19 month old who fights tooth and nail and ends up asleep at 11-12. We've tried altering his naps (which have never been scheduled to begin with) but if we don't nap him he gets fussy by 6 and hell wake up too early if he's in bed at 6. SOO I feel your pain mama !

From what you wrote it seems you're on the same page as me about CIO, but unfortunatley it sounds like that may be your only choice if you don't want him up all night with you and the newborn. That's why I haven't tried for our second yet because my sons too attached as it is, but he needs to be on a better sleep/eat schedule first.

Quoting MichaelsMom0711:

My little guy is 20 months ant still wakes up a few times a night for a bottle. He has been off formula and on whole milk since right when he turned 1 but still on the bottle when hes getting tired and ready for a nap or bed. He is up until midnight, sometimes later and no, there is no "getting them on an earlier schedule" either! we tried keeping him up from naps so he'll sleep earlier and more soundly thru the night but he just fell asleep sitting up and it made bed time even later, hes a night owl like us but then he wakes for that bottle. I tried ignoring his crying too and going cold turkey off the bottle but he just didnt stop and i get up at 6:30 a.m to get ready to leave for work by 7:00. I want to do this before his baby brother gets here in July cuz that will really be hell getting up for 2, it will be like having twins! but it doesnt sound like theres really an easy way to do this other than letting them cry it out and eventually cry themselves to sleep again i guess..... :/

I have 20 month old twins, and this is seemingly impossible for us right now. I've tried to do things like lower the amount of milk they get, mix in water, give them a snack before bed, etc. Our biggest issue is that right now they share a room with their older brother and some nights if they don't get the bottle they will either wake up super early (5am) or start screaming at 3am or whatever time and wake him up, too.

And there are nights where frankly I'm too damn tired to remember that I'm only supposed to fill the bottle halfway or mix in water. My husband works third shift, so it's all me. Up until 6 months ago, I was also working 40 hours a week on top of it all. We've not been successful with night time parenting for a lot of reasons. I got them all sleeping in their bed and cribs, though. That was cool. We'll get them off the bottle soon, I think.

Oh wow! im glad Im not alone! If he is sleeping for the night by 11 that feels early to me! my mom said I was the same way until I was about 3 and she was the same as a baby/toddler too, and Im sure my SO was too cuz hes always been a late person too so I swear its in his genes! i hear my friends and cousins with kids around the same age complaining if they are up til 9:00 and I laugh!

Quoting xxshelbyxxx:

Gosh I though my DS went to bed late! And I'm not being an ass I'm being sincere! I've always figured I'm the only mother with a 19 month old who fights tooth and nail and ends up asleep at 11-12. We've tried altering his naps (which have never been scheduled to begin with) but if we don't nap him he gets fussy by 6 and hell wake up too early if he's in bed at 6. SOO I feel your pain mama !

From what you wrote it seems you're on the same page as me about CIO, but unfortunatley it sounds like that may be your only choice if you don't want him up all night with you and the newborn. That's why I haven't tried for our second yet because my sons too attached as it is, but he needs to be on a better sleep/eat schedule first.

Quoting MichaelsMom0711:

My little guy is 20 months ant still wakes up a few times a night for a bottle. He has been off formula and on whole milk since right when he turned 1 but still on the bottle when hes getting tired and ready for a nap or bed. He is up until midnight, sometimes later and no, there is no "getting them on an earlier schedule" either! we tried keeping him up from naps so he'll sleep earlier and more soundly thru the night but he just fell asleep sitting up and it made bed time even later, hes a night owl like us but then he wakes for that bottle. I tried ignoring his crying too and going cold turkey off the bottle but he just didnt stop and i get up at 6:30 a.m to get ready to leave for work by 7:00. I want to do this before his baby brother gets here in July cuz that will really be hell getting up for 2, it will be like having twins! but it doesnt sound like theres really an easy way to do this other than letting them cry it out and eventually cry themselves to sleep again i guess..... :/

As I read the original post, I thought you should try water instead of milk/formula, etc. My LO does that, wakes up in the middle of the night (usually around 3-4am) for "milk and snack". I gave him water last night and he slept better, but woke up an hour later and would not settle, just do it right mommy, was all I got. Some nights I can just rock him back to sleep, but I'm not bothering with staying up that long until I think it's actually going in the direction of him not waking up at all (or at least not waking me up).

I'll be checking in to see how things are going for you. :-) (((hugs)))

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